Experience Ecology (school groups only)
2026 is the 8th year that we have run Experience Ecology. Year 11 biology school groups are invited to join us to gain field experience relevant to Unit 3 of senior biology (2025 syllabus v1.2). You'll also practice data analysis and scientific report writing for Internal Assessment 2.
Experience Ecology is delivered by Dr Gurion Ang and current undergraduate biology students.
What you'll learn
High school students will gain hands-on experience in:
- calculating species diversity
- classifying an ecosystem based on vegetation structure
- ecological surveying techniques (line transect, point transect, grid quadrat, etc)
- writing effective research questions
- basic data processing and analysis.
Watch our Youtube video (duration 3:27) to find out more about Experience Ecology.
Session dates
All sessions at UQ St Lucia campus, unless otherwise specified:
- Monday 26 October at Mon Repos Turtle Centre, Bundaberg
- Tuesday 27 October at Mon Repos Turtle Centre, Bundaberg
- Thursday 29 October – fully booked
- Monday 2 November
- Tuesday 3 November
- Wednesday 4 November – fully booked
- Thursday 5 November
- Friday 6 November
- Monday 9 November
- Tuesday 10 November
- Wednesday 11 November
- Thursday 12 November
- Friday 13 November
Registrations
Please provide your preferred dates to Dr Gurion Ang at gurion.ang@uq.edu.au with your school name, number of classes attending (and number of students in each class) as well as full name and contact details of accompanying teachers. An email reply confirms your booking.
Joining instructions (including public liability statement and sample data set) will be provided in due course.
The following documents are available to download to assist with your local school approval process:
Activities risk assessment (PDF, 68.2 KB)Bus alighting map - UQ St Lucia campus (PDF, 397.5 KB)
Our program
Please note: We'll conduct our workshops in any order. (You may have Workshop A followed by Workshop B or vice versa).
| 9:10am | School groups arrive. |
| 9:15am | Workshop A: Skills in field ecology Current UQ ecology and zoology students will conduct activities based on the 3 mandatory practicals in Unit 3 of the new senior biology syllabus. |
| 11:15am | Picnic lunch. We ask that you bring your own food and drink. It's a busy time on campus and you may not have enough time to buy your lunch. |
| 11:50am | Workshop B: Analyse and interpret ecological data We will use an authentic sample data set and show best practice in the processing and analysis of ecological data. Students should bring their laptop and schools will be provided the sample data set to download prior to your visit. Microsoft Excel is required. |
| 1:50pm | Depart. |
Cost
This event is free. Transport to and from Mon Repos Turtle Centre or our St Lucia campus is at your school's expense.
We offer bespoke, fee-for-service IA2 data collection opportunities on campus typically held during Term 4 of Year 11 or Term 1 of Year 12. Contact Dr Gurion Ang at gurion.ang@uq.edu.au for more information.
